Land of The Free

I love the Fourth.  And cookies with the patriotic theme are some of my favorite to make.  I love the black outline...gives it a coloring book look, I think.  So here are the first of the season, and a look back at others I have made!  Happy Fourth!  What are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!

The 4th of July!

My favorite holiday is upon us. The 4th of July brings back terrific childhood memories. Summer days floating in black innertubes on Lake Delavan. Fireworks shows that we oohed and ahhed at, laying on our backs on top of worn quilts. My own children have vastly different memories. No cousins to be found, many baseball fields, the country club, the beach, or our own little hamlet's fireworks. But no matter where we are, there is something magical about the birthday of our country. So naturally, we bake.

I am the first to admit that I am inspired by many cookie bakers. Cookie mavens like LilaLoa, Sweet Sugar Belle and Sweetopia. These are the blogs I read all the time. Accomplished women like these offer tutorials, tips, hints and great inspiration for bakers like me. I am small time (for now!) and appreciate that they are so willing to share their wealth of knowledge. LilaLoa says on her blog, she is terrible at keeping secrets and will tell you everything. I love that! She is a very humorous writer , kinda like someone else I know. But truly that is why many of us blog, it is sharing information, accomplishments, and ideas. I always try and give credit where credit is due. SweetSugarBelle inspired me to do the black outline on the stars and stripes, and I think it made a huge difference. LilaLoa makes a lot of her cookies chocolate and that dark background gives it great effect.

The black outlines remind me of my sister Patti. She is about 8 years older than me, so when I was just learning to color in the lines, she would come along and outline those pictures in darker colors or black and then gently color them in. I was so taken with the effect, I copied it and did it with my own kids. So why I didn't think of doing it on cookies, I don't know. But I love it. So here is the Patriotic Roundup.

Share and Share Alike

Okay people, did your momma not teach you those basic lessons about sharing? Apparently, people throw their manners out the door when cookies are involved! I posted (tongue in cheek, mind you) about the Good Doctor who did not like sharing his chocolate biscotti my mom made, with his staff. So once he fessed up, she made some just for the staff. Everyone was happy. I worked around physicians offices for many years, I know that as soon as the Good Doctor turned his back on those cookies, the staff would swoop in. And it is a large staff at his offices, so he gets a bye on the sharing thing.

However, about a year ago, I posted some cookies I made for the Post Office. My little local P.O. I know what kind of a bad rap the P.O. gets, and I understand. Sometimes I feel like such a nuisance to the people working there. But when they squeezed Nic in for a passport renewal on his 3 day leave, I was pretty thankful. And, as most of you know, when I am thankful, I bake.

I admit, I was a little surprised when I was back at the P.O.a few days later, and no one ever mentioned the cookies. Not even the woman I gave them to. Okay. Well, this last week I was shipping out cookies (showers, birthdays and Father's Day) my family had a lot going on. My favorite P.O. guy was taking care of me and we chatted a little about my "perishable" box. I told him I was shipping the world's best sugar cookies, but then I mentioned he had to have tried them, the big platter of stamps, last summer, anything familiar here? But, nooooo. They were not shared last summer. He never saw them. So there is only one thing to do. Make cookies for Willie.

I know he is retired Navy, because we would talk about the military when I was shipping Air Force boxes out. So I decided some anchors and maybe some 4th of July themed cookies. I have seen some neat ideas around the web and thought they would be perfect. So thanks Willie. And no, you most definitely do not have to share!